Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a directional pixel design for the creation of a high angular resolution, wide field of view, multiple view display.
Background of the Invention
Despite the large amount of light-field display research and development, no commercial multiple-view, autostereoscopic, high-angular resolution, wide field of view light-field display exists. Current commercial displays use pixels sized in the range of tens to hundreds of microns. When producing a light-field display meant to replicate a natural, “real life” image, the resolution of current displays is too low. Current displays also produce a narrow field of view due to limitations on the output angle using conventional lenses over display screens (such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,274,345 and 9,250,446) or image projectors (such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,567,960). In addition to resolution and field of view limitations, traditional three-dimensional displays commonly create an accommodation-convergence conflict, resulting in discomfort for the viewer.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,928,969 teaches a lens covering a plurality of subpixels, whereby the subpixels cannot be individually addressed.
The use of a directional light modulator that is mechanically tilted or angularly articulated to direct light beams to different angles, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 9,195,053 is previously known. Also known is a directional backlight for controlling and scattering light beams, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 9,459,461.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,829,902 teaches pixels constructed with the circuitry located at the periphery of the light emitting portion of the pixel, thereby limiting the space of light emission surface; the vertical waveguides cannot successfully scale down to collimate smaller-scale, such as nano-scale, pixels.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,389,415 teaches the use of periodic gratings to direct light beams connected in a medium at a specific angle; while these periodic gratings provide wide angles for traditional pixel sizes, they cannot successfully direct light emitted from smaller-scale pixels. The periodic gratings of U.S. Pat. No. 9,389,415 also limit the display to horizontal parallax.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,372,349 describes a light-field display deploying a collimated backlight. There remains a need for a light-field display with reduced spectral bandwidth of each subpixel to allow for accurate beam steering, in particular for small scale pixel sizes.